Springwell and BayPath Elder Services  merged on July 1. Springwell, a 45-year-old, Waltham-based nonprofit, and BayPath, a 45-year-old, Marlborough-based nonprofit, are among 25 independent organizations that have contracts with the Executive Office of Elder Affairs to act as state-designated Aging Service Access Points and federally designated Area Agencies on Aging. Both organizations share very similar missions to provide quality resources and services to individuals across the lifespan, empowering them to reside in the setting of their choice while they face the challenges that come with aging, caregiving, and/or living with chronic health issues.

Springwell has historically provided these services to older adults and their caregivers in the towns of Belmont, Brookline, Needham, Newton, Waltham, Watertown, Wellesley, and Weston. BayPath provided these services to residents of the towns of Ashland, Dover, Framingham, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hudson, Marlborough, Natick, Northborough, Sherborn, Southborough, Sudbury, Wayland, Westborough. The new organization resulting from the merger is called Springwell and provides all contracted services to thousands of older adults and their caregivers in all twenty-two communities.

The new Springwell is led by Trish Smith, the CEO of Springwell, while the Executive Director of BayPath, Joe Quirk, has the role of Chief Integration and Strategy Officer. The new Springwell continues to offer the same services, by the same staff, out of the same offices in both Waltham and Marlborough.

“While both organizations are strong programmatically and financially, combining operations provides opportunities for more efficient and flexible delivery of services. The larger geography will be beneficial for recruiting new employees and volunteers who may prefer working out of one office or the other. As a larger organization, Springwell can take on projects not possible for either of the two smaller nonprofits on their own.” shares Smith. She adds that “the merger made sense for both Springwell and BayPath because as a combined organization, we have the resources to expand our services and create new programming that meets the needs of all 22 communities.”

“For the people we serve in MetroWest and the public in general, very little has changed except the name,” said Joe Quirk. “Our commitment to the people we serve comes first. The organization employs care managers, social workers, and nurses to evaluate what services people need, then contract out to other agencies to provide those services. One of our main goals is to support people as they make choices in aging, providing such services as housekeeping, home-delivered meals, personal care, money management and behavioral health counseling, investigate reports of elder abuse and neglect, and run an ombudsman program in local nursing homes.”

The combined organization has about 200 employees, 450 volunteers, and will serve thousands of people per year.